Even decades after Jacob stole the birthright from his brother, he sees himself, fundamentally, as a liar and a thief. When we don’t believe we can change, we invest in subverting the truth and inverting reality. Our country is in the grips of a multi-generational obfuscation, entrenching in a dangerous lie that we cannot reckon with the past, that healing is not possible from past wrongs. But individuals and nations need not be defined by our moral failings. There is another way.
Dec 05, 2022•21 min
Source sheet here: https://ikar.box.com/s/t1tfkt5grb10t96zuxakm00j3iq0qnjo In perhaps the most heartbreaking verse of the Torah, Esav cries out to his father for a blessing just like his younger brother had received. To understand these tears and the tragic arc set into motion by this moment, we turn to a surprising source for insight: The Book of Esther. Uncovering the hidden conversation between these two texts implores us to love expansively and without limits.
Nov 28, 2022•20 min
There’s nothing brave about regurgitating antisemitic lies. That’s not truth to power, it’s unwitting support of white power. It’s time to deconstruct these narrative fallacies, and tell a new story.
Nov 20, 2022•24 min
Join us for a conversation between Rabbi Sharon Brous and leaders from Breaking the Silence, an NGO providing discharged Israeli personnel and reservists a means to confidentially recount their experiences in the Occupied Territories. This is a Q&A and discussion that surrounded a screening of Mission Hebron, a short documentary by Rona Segal based on the testimony of Israeli soldiers who served in the West Bank. To see the documentary, visit our YouTube channel here.
Nov 18, 2022•1 hr 20 min
How can we understand so called religious people aligning with a regressive politics that relishes stripping rights rather than expanding them, that honors guns over humans, fetuses over hungry children, incarceration over restorative justice, environmental devastation over stewardship? Our core theological commitments must manifest in the reality we seek to build, a society of compassion and wakefulness, love and justice. One that honors the divine image in every person.
Nov 13, 2022•20 min
Love matters most when our family is in danger. A love that reminds you how far you’ll fallen, a love that helps you walk away from the path of self-destruction. Avram exhibits that kind of love towards his nephew Lot, and we must too towards Israel, as they walk an increasingly dangerous path.
Nov 07, 2022•15 min
Rev. Dr. Najuma Smith-Pollard, spiritual leader of Word of Encouragement Community Church, joins Rabbi Sharon Brous in conversation on recent racist and anti-Semitic incidents and how true friendship and allyship is the only way to overcome bigotry.
Nov 07, 2022•57 min
There is a direct line from the 1995 murder of Yitzhak Rabin to the ascendance of right wing, ultranationalist extremists in Israel today. The election this past week has me revisiting a question that has haunted me for more than 25 years: did the assassin murder a man or a movement?
Nov 06, 2022•21 min
This is a recording of Rabbi David Kasher's Parsha class from November 3, 2022
Nov 04, 2022•44 min
Rabbi Kasher shares a surprising teaching from his new book on Torah commentary.
Oct 30, 2022•22 min
Rather than turn against one another, we must turn toward each another. Rather than assume that your gain is my loss, your representation is my disenfranchisement, your liberation is my oppression… we must recognize that your liberation is essential to my own. We must trust that the only way to build beloved community is together. This is the moral message of the Torah: we are our brothers’ keepers.
Oct 23, 2022•17 min
A new cycle of reading through the Torah! A new book! And a new season of Best Book Ever!
Oct 21, 2022•14 min
This is a recording of Rabbi David Kasher's Parsha class from October 20, 2022
Oct 21, 2022•47 min
These are our stories, stories told by IKAR community members about how it feels to struggle with the high cost of affording a place to live. For some of us, housing instability was caused by the breakup of a relationship we had to leave, for others, because of an illness or disability, and for some, simply because the rents keep going up and pay is not keeping pace. We’re telling these stories because we at IKAR are committed to working together for systemic change in our housing policy. Homes ...
Oct 20, 2022•41 min
We think of the Bible as a fixed book, but an ancient debate amongst the Rabbis reveal how close Kohelet (Ecclesiastes) came to being left out of the canon. What’s so dangerous about this book of the Bible, and why is crucially important that it found its way in?
Oct 19, 2022•11 min
This is a recording of Rabbi David Kasher's Parsha class from October 6, 2022
Oct 09, 2022•47 min
Oct 06, 2022•26 min
I spent the summer reading banned books. Here’s what I learned: empathy poses the greatest threat to tyranny. Art is the antidote to numbness. And Torah is the most dangerous book of all.
Oct 06, 2022•33 min
This is a recording of Rabbi David Kasher's Parsha class from September 29, 2022 that has been edited for brevity. Watch the full class on IKAR's YouTube channel.
Oct 02, 2022•53 min
Some lessons we learn just once, but the deeper wisdom we learn over and over and over. This summer was my coping with prostate cancer and surgery. And the old lessons were there to greet me on the other side: the world is prepared for us, it takes (and we are) a village), we are marinating in love.
Oct 02, 2022•22 min
Culture change always starts with stories. And we aren’t the only living beings with stories to tell. The Earth’s chorus of voices demands moral engagement, a new approach to our planet in peril.
Sep 28, 2022•22 min
Our world is crying out for a subversive sequel, a redemption narrative. It’s time to write a new and better, more just and more inclusive version of our story. We must plant seeds for the future now, before it’s too late.
Sep 28, 2022•31 min
During this time of cheshbon hanefesh or accounting of the soul, are we keeping our corner of the body of the Jewish people healthy with communally, unified practice? I believe, it's time to create a liberally minded halacha (practice of Jewish law) to meet our sensibilities of the day yet remain true to the commandments of our tradition.
Sep 26, 2022•23 min
Living in exile with God (as if such a thing could be.)
Sep 21, 2022•12 min
The warnings famously issued in this parashah are not Biblical fantasy—they are living reality. When we allow powerful people to deceive, mock and instrumentalize those most vulnerable, when we cede to a norm of heartlessness, indifference and the perversion of justice, there is no end to the cruelties that will permeate our society. It’s time to wake up—to recognize this moment and movement for exactly what it is.
Sep 19, 2022•18 min
This is a recording of Rabbi David Kasher's Parsha class from September 15, 2022
Sep 15, 2022•51 min
Where does our national story begin? With a wandering Aramean, according to the story told in this week's parsha. But exactly who that Aramean was is a matter of great debate.
Sep 13, 2022•13 min
Sifting through a dense catalog of state regulations in search of some inspiration for the High Holy Days - with some help from the Ba'al Shem Tov and Abraham Maslow.
Sep 12, 2022•15 min
This is a recording of Rabbi David Kasher's Parsha class from September 8, 2022
Sep 09, 2022•48 min
Buried in the laws of inheritance is a subtle reference to one of the most tragic stories in the Torah - one that we usually miss.
Sep 09, 2022•17 min
